Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Ghloir Ar An Oiche by Kirlian Camera

Last night I was perusing youtube when I discovered that someone had uploaded all four tracks of Ghloir Ar An Oiche by the Italian electropop band Kirlian Camera. Of course I had to give the EP/single a listen to especially after fallen in love with the song "Nightglory" a week or two ago. Needless to say I put in a pre-order for the CD version via Amazon.com. I strongly recommend buying this (digital or CD format) legally to show support for the band. As much as I love youtube, I try to find ways to show my love for bands like Kirlian Camera by buying their music through Amazon, their record label, or from the band themselves.

I must say "Nightglory" has to be one of the best songs that I have heard in 2011 (next to Blutengel's "Uber Den Horizont"). I have read online that some people didn't care for the inclusion of guitars on this song. I honestly thought the guitar riffs added a nice touch to the song. The guitar riffs never overwhelmed the song. What made the song so epic for me is Elena Alice Fossi's powerful vocals and the gorgeous melodies. The combination is so memorable. I have the melodies stuck in my head.

"After Winter MMXI" is not nearly melodic as "Nightglory" but it is still a solid Kirlian Camera track. The mood of the track is far darker than "Nightglory". Angelo Bergamini provides vocals on this sinister track. Well his vocals are more in the vein of spoken word than actual singing. Angelo's vocal contributions do tend to be monotonous and may annoy some people but I feel like it was appropriate to go with the pulsating synth beats.

The next track is simply a piano version of "Nightglory". It is a beautiful track without a shadow of the doubt but personally I like the original just a bit more. The stripped down, bare bones version is missing the grandeur sound of the original version. Regardless of my personal preference, the camera version of "Nightglory" is still a joy to listen to.

Finally is "I Gave You Wings - I Gave You Death". The song starts off as a gorgeous instrumental with its gorgeous classical-influenced melodies but halfway through the song, the melodies become disjointed and the mood of the song takes a darker, more sinister route and becomes more of a darkwave/ambient track. Angelo's programming skills is really amazing on this particular track. I could have sworn I heard gregorian chant-like vocals towards the end of the track but the more I listened to the song, the more I realize it is most likely computer generated.

Overall I really enjoyed Ghloir Ar An Oiche by Kirlian Camera. I really like how diverse the band's sound is with every track. It has left me hungry for a full length album from this talented band. From what I have heard from KC, their sound is never predictable nor do they stick to one particular sound.